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How to unlock the Nexus 7 camera app

by LGR Team, 9:41am December 26 2012

Unlock your Nexus 7’s camera app with our quick guide.

One feature absent from the Google Nexus 7 when it launched was a main camera. It was no big deal – equipping it with a high quality camera would have made it far harder to deliver on the device’s main feature, it’s low, low price. But having no rear camera means there’s no camera app either, meaning you cannot even use the front facing camera for emergency snapshots when you need to. However the camera software itself was not removed from the tablet, it was simply hidden, and made inaccessible to the user.

You can recover the feature using the Camera Launcher for Nexus 7 app from the Play Store. This tiny free app adds the standard camera launcher icon to your tablet’s screen, and gives you full control over the front facing camera on the Nexus. It supports all the Android camera functions, including stills, video and even panorama mode. Its not a replacement for a proper camera (you can’t see the screen unless you’re shooting self portraits!) but in a pinch it serves its purpose. Other camera apps such as Camera ICS also unlock the feature on the Nexus.